My Milk Broke
by skwirelygurli
Summary: Ally waits for Austin to return home. adult!Auslly.


**My Milk Broke, an Austin and Ally oneshot**

**I do not own Austin and Ally. I've been on hiatus, but please enjoy and review!**

Too many miles, too many minutes.

She wants him back home.

"How many more days apart?" she asks over the videoline, opening the cupboard door.

"Too many," he replies over the rustling of plastic. Tiny cereal flakes reverberate against the plastic bowl.

"Lucky Charms?"

"I'm about to finish the box," he admits, a wave of milk drowning the marshmallows.

She plucks a clover from her bowl, wishing it could be real. Wishing that he could come back home.

The clover gets tossed back into the bowl. "You just got them Monday!"

He shrugs, shoveling in a mouthful of sugar.

"I'm a growing boy."

"You're twenty five."

"I'm a growing man then."

Not all the red balloons in this bowl could fill her like the feeling of his arms around her right now.

If only they could carry her away.

_(the box opens here)_

Austin tosses a handful of Corn Pops into his mouth. They are chased down with milk, straight from the bottle.

"Really?" she scolds, grabbing herself a clean bowl.

"Gotta have my Pops," he quotes, though he sets the box down, wiping his face clean.

He may need his Pops, but she needs her husband. She rubs her stomach.

Great, now there's milk on her blouse.

"Ooh."

"Hmm?" he murmurs around the spoon dangling from his mouth as milk pours from the bottle. "Something wrong?"

"The baby kicked."

"I wish I was there to feel it. I promise, I'll be back by September." A month stretches like Silly Putty in the hands of love. Long and languid.

Someone calls for him, and he slurps his milk back quickly, apologizing.

She shakes her head. "It's fine. I'll talk to you later."

Her cereal goes soggy.

_(the box opens here)_

Frowning at the nutrition label, Ally pours herself a bowl of Cookie Crisp.

"Do you not eat any healthy cereal?" she asks him, coating the miniature sugar bombs in a sea of milk.

"Fine, you can pick the next cereal that we get." He shovels back a spoonful, lips curling over the spoon.

Setting her spoon down, she hums approval. "Oatmeal."

"Oatmeal is not a cereal."

"It's a hot cereal."

He concedes.

Pouring a second bowl, he smiles at her. She always gets her way. She wanted a fairy tale wedding, she got a Cinderella gown. She wanted a child to love, she has a bun in the oven.

She wanted him to come home.

Okay, so she doesn't always get what she wants.

_(the box opens here)_

There's a massive bowl in front of him, yet only a small cup in front of her.

"How many packets did you put in there?" She gestures towards his breakfast with her spoon.

"Three, why?" Two blueberry and one peach. She herself had opted for banana, stirring in a healthy dose of fresh strawberries.

She plucks a berry out. "That's a lot of fiber..."

"I'll be fine."

Popping the berry into her mouth, she raises an eyebrow.

"The baby thanks you."

"You still haven't asked about the gender?"

"Not until you come home."

He can't tell what hurts more: his burnt tongue or the jab to his heart.

No more hot cereal.

_(the box opens here)_

Sorting her cereal by color, she looks up to see her husband staring at her.

"What?"

"Why are you sorting your Fruit Loops?" He takes a multicolored spoonful and lifts it to his own mouth.

She moves a herd of blue rings to the left. "I want to see if each color has its own flavor."

"I thought you already tried that when we ate Trix."

"Austin, we've been over this. Trix and Fruit Loops are not the same as doughnut holes and doughnuts." She chews on a handful of red pieces, then a few green.

"Man, now I want a doughnut."

She smiles. He may want a doughnut, but she just wants her man home.

_(the box opens here)_

Standing in front of the cereal display at the store, she takes a breath. So many possibilities.

"What kind of Cheerios?"

"The honey kind. I gotta have something sweet for when you're not around." A stockman next to her sneers in a snit of teenaged angst, and an elderly woman examining the wonderful world of bran cereals coos in appreciation.

She really should take him off of speaker phone.

Except she can't find her headphones, and it's six o'clock in the morning, and she really didn't expect all of Miami to be listening in on her video call.

"At the rate you're eating that cereal, I should get a smaller box, just to keep up with you." He's on his third bowl already, and they haven't exactly been meager in portion size.

"Sorry, I missed dinner last night. I was up late with the producers. They want me to keep this one contestant around for drama, but she's one of the weakest singers left." Reality television is starting to take a toll on him. He can't wait until he's back home, his contract fulfilled and a hefty chunk of change in his bank account to buy enough diapers for their child, and any more to come.

He better slow his roll. One child at a time.

"Think of any baby names yet?"

"Right now my only concern has been them coming out not on a sugar rush."

He chuckles, milk crawling up his nose. He makes a face.

"We'll talk when I get home."

_(the box opens here)_

He'll be home in days. Countable days, where the number sounds optimistic, and not like some cereal filled nightmare.

Cradling his favorite pink bowl in one arm, Austin holds a stuffed monkey in the other.

"What's that?" Ally pours a tall stack of cereal. It's her favorite, and she's starving. She has to feed the baby, right?

Right, her subconscience replies through a mouthful of cereal.

"It's Kix, the monkey. I got him for our baby."

"Kix?"

"Yeah, I shouldn't name things on an empty stomach."

Her gaze drifts to the fish tank, where Steak and Potatoes are swimming around.

Point taken.

_(the box opens here)_

On the last day, things get technical.

"I know Rice Krispie Treats aren't technically a cereal, but they're made with cereal." He'd gotten it from the vending machine at the airport. Hers had come from the convenience store, where she had found a new pair of earbuds. Not that she'd need them.

Austin's coming home.

_(the box opens here)_

It's the morning after his return home, and he's looking forward to eating breakfast together. Actually together, like face to face, without a computer screen.

He opens the cupboard to find it full of half eaten boxes of cereal.

"Sorry, I couldn't finish my cereal as fast as you could but I wanted to have the same as you so it would feel like we were together and-"

And? And what?

Doesn't really matter now.

She drops the milk bottle.

"My milk broke."

"Ally, I'm pretty sure the expression is that your water broke." His eyes widen. "Oh, your water broke! I'll get the car!"

She grabs his hand, bringing him to a halt.

"The bottle. There's glass shards everywhere."

"I knew that."

She missed this.

It's good to have him home.


End file.
